Salmon Creek Estuary
Map SatelliteClosed during a portion of the year by a sandbar, this is a winter estuary showing a gradation of marsh communities from salt to freshwater. Near the opening, the marsh, which includes some open water, is typically coastal, with salt grass, Distichlis spicata, Jaumea carnosa, bulrushes, Scirpus acutus and Scirpus robustus, Juncus sp., and the introduced beach grass, Ammophila arenaria.
Upstream the pockets of marshes become successively brackish and freshwater. Approximately 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) east of Highway 1 there is a small freshwater marsh with several unusual species. Two varieties of the rush Juncus effusus var. pacificus, which is widespread, and a more inland form than the coast variety, Juncus effusus var. brunneus, are found growing together here. It is also one of the few known localities in the State for the cosmopolitan spike rush, Eleocharis parvula, as well as the northernmost locality for the California bulrush, Scirpus californicus. Two rare plants are found in the vicinity, Delphinium luteum and Dichondra donnelliana, the latter a close relative of the widely cultivated ground cover.
Silver salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, and steelhead, Salmo gairdnerii gairdnerii, spawn upstream.
Integrity: Around 1970 there was a massive kill of much of the creek fauna; the cause was undetermined. The estuary is relatively undisturbed though bordered by homes.
Use: Research, educational, observational. Upstream: private.
November 1975
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman